This was still one of my favorite chases. PNWR on the United Junction/ She's crested Cornelius pass and the summit tunnel and is running the 10MPH line to Banks. These were taken in 2010.
From August 2018, NS Train 192 arrives in Columbia, SC from Macon, GA. She'll yard here, then head north to terminate at Linwood, NC. Ex-CR SD-60 #6751 trails.
I once wondered the same thing, but there was no tower here. The tracks in Columbia have been moved around a bunch in the last 30 years and this junction resulted from the changes. To assure that CSX and NS play nice, CSX controls this spot and NS controls the other junction across town. I think the closest interlocking tower to Columbia was about 50 miles south, D Tower at Denmark, SC. [Not my photo below] It was once a busy spot, with the SAL, ACL and SOU all crossing in close proximity. Sadly though, only the SAL main remains today. On a better note, the renovated depot remains to serve ATK, though ashamedly, I've never been certain of its heritage.
Ooo. Classic wooden tower. Is that a tile roof? Which would be a bit unusual. Looks like all the signals are gone. I see a vacant concrete mast base.
I found another photo of Demark's D Tower in one of my books and the roof appears to have been done with some sort of patterned novelty shingles that look much like tile. I read that the tower was closed on 09/15/1967 @ 11PM by the 2nd trick op and was razed a few months later. I also read that the Denmark depot was the SAL's. What confused me is that the depot is set on the property with its long end facing the former SOU and its narrow end toward owner SAL. I took this photo of the depot about four years ago:
I wonder if the depot orientation is due to who was there first, then second? That influenced some installations I have run across in the past.
Got to go watch a couple of trains yesterday morning, from above with the rising sun behind me, here's the first one.
Nice work badland! The open vistas y'all have out west are an extraordinary sight to this easterner. We seem to have a bazillion trees in the way most everywhere.
Spent a year in Mountaintop, PA, near Wilkes-Barre, trees, trees, trees!!! And so much undergrowth made it difficult to even go chase a deer! Got a little claustrophobic over there!
Some photographers call the common eastern scene as a "tunnel of trees" and it's pretty accurate. I prefer mixing trains in the scenery, so it gets pretty frustrating. I took this snapshot several weeks ago (at Elgin, SC; former SAL main). I knew the light was lousy, but the composition is typical. Ya just can't get back from the right of way. I often spend wait time stomping down tall grass and snapping off errant tree branches.
How long did it take to pump the fuel? Just curious.... Larger nozzle than any average gas station, but filling how many thousands of gallons?
Not really sure. He was there a long time but topped off all three locomotives. And, I don't know how empty the tanks were when he started out.
Related to Russell's photo only in how long it takes to fuel 4 freight engines from a semi-tanker. I was on ATK #19 about 2 miles out of Meridian, MS station for nearly 4 hours while 3 consists of NS and/or KCS engines were refueled at the station platform. Needless to say the ATK Conductor was fuming and expressed his displeasure about once an hour over the PA. We ended up being 12 hours down into Meridian. NS dispatchers obviously don't like ATK.
